I think it may have been mentioned in last week’s random reader rant and/or revel but someone recommended a good documentary. I also love documentary films and since I finally got a Netflix account (it only took me 2 years and Blockbuster closing in Adams Morgan…), it’s time I start building the queue.

Back in Oct. ’08 we talk about our favorite ‘regular’ films here.
Ed. Note: And I’ve learned to stop combining my FQotD with different topics so a serious question about the election will be in a different post above.

-Smartest Guys in the Room
-3 Days in Beslan (very difficult to watch but sensitive treatment of such painful material)
-When the Levies Broke
-Inside the Meltdown (PBS; I believe you can still download for free from the FRONTLINE page)
-Babies
-Sex Positive

These are worth a watch(all are on Netflix, btw):
Surfwise
The September Issue
Snuff
A State of Mind
The Cove
Bigger, Stronger, Faster
Outrage
Jandek on Corwood
The Devil Came on Horseback
Street Fight
The Fall of Fugimori
The God Who Wasn’t There
The Hunting of the President

Grizzly Man is wonderful as well. I wouldn’t call Man with a Movie Camera a documentary (it probably wouldn’t meet the Academy’s definition, considering The Thin Blue Line didn’t either) but it is great.

Hoop Dreams, Spellbound, Capturing the Friedmans, King of Kong, American Movie, Roger and Me (Moore’s first and by far still his best),

What’s scary about Bob Roberts is not just how prescient it is, but how positively tame / innocuous he is relative to many of the politicians we are now afflicted with. Compared to the Angles, Bucks, Palins, O’Donnells, Millers of the world, Roberts is almost quaint.

What an incredible documentary. It follows the lives of several men in Osaka, all of whom work at a bar and serve as entertainers/male geishas for wealthy young women. I was completely floored. Really good.

Why We Fight is the provocative documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger) and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Named after the series of short films by legendary director Frank Capra that explored America’s reasons for entering World War II, Why We Fight surveys a half-century of military conflicts, asking how – and answering why – a nation of, by and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a government system whose survival depends on an Orwellian state of constant war.

The Why We Fight DVD features interviews and observations by a “who’s who” of military and Washington insiders including Senator John McCain, Gore Vidal, and Dan Rather. Beginning with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s prescient 1961 speech warning of the rise of the “military industrial complex,” Why We Fight moves far beyond the headlines of various American military operations to the deeper questions of why America seemingly is always at war. What are the forces – political, economic, and ideological – that drive us to clash against an ever-changing enemy? Just why does America fight? Unforgettable, powerful and at times disturbing, Why We Fight on DVD will challenge viewers long after the last fade-out.

The documentary profiles an FBI agent who desperately tries to sound alarms in the months leading up to 9/11. He has been successfully tracking Bin Laden for years. Unfortunately, he is much better at counter-intelligence than he was at agency politics. Just weeks before 9/11 he is pushed out of the FBI.

Here is the jaw dropper in the last 5-10 minutes of the documentary. He quickly gets a new job, a job that will ultimately prove to be his last job. His new job is head of security at the World Trade Center.

Uh, it’s cliche? The Domino Effect is how Cold Warriors justified their use of intervention (direct or indirect) in Communist countries. If one country becomes a Communist regime, then surrounding countries will, as well, they reasoned. It’s such an oft-bandied about and now useless trope that I was surprised to see it used in Morris’ film, since his films don’t trade in cliches at all.

Otherwise, I agree with the ones suggested above. Also, although it’s more of a miniseries, Eyes on the Prize is really outstanding. If you haven’t seen it since you were likely forced to watch it in middle or high school, it will seem better through adult eyes.

About a group of Lost Boys of Sudan, now young men, who after living for years in a refugee camp have an opportunity to move the US. Not always easy to watch, but it’s one of those movies that you can get out of your head days after you see it.

Please Vote for Me
Word Wars (yes, a docu on competitive Scrabble tourneys and even better characters)
A State of Mind
Afghan Star
Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo
Up the Yangtze
The War Room
Last Train Home (great docu that explains the Chinese factory worker life/economy)